Bismarck State College continues its roster of ArtsQuest events with Chip Kidd, an author, editor and graphic designer universally recognized as a master of contemporary book design - "the closest thing to a rock star" in graphic design today, according to USA Today.

Kidd works at Alfred A. Knopf in New York City, where he is associate art director and produces an average of 75 jacket designs a year. Kidd, whose 2012 TED talk was cited as one of the "funniest of the year," speaks about his life and work in the graphic arts and publishing business Tuesday, April 16, at 7:30 p.m. in Sidney J. Lee Auditorium, Schafer Hall.

A writing workshop with Kidd is scheduled from noon to 1 p.m. April 16 in BSC's National Energy Center of Excellence Basin Electric Auditorium (304). ArtsQuest offers the workshop and evening presentation at no charge.

Hired by Knopf in 1986, Kidd additionally has free-lanced for Doubleday, Farrar Straus & Giroux, Grove Press, HarperCollins, Penguin/Putnam, Scribner, and Columbia University Press. He supervises graphic novels at Pantheon as editor-at-large for books on comics and in 2003 collaborated with Art Spiegelman on a biography of cartoonist Jack Cole.

His output includes cover concepts for books by Mark Beyer, Bret Easton Ellis, Haruki Murakami, Dean Koontz, Cormac McCarthy, Frank Miller, Alex Ross, Charles Schulz, David Sedaris, John Updike and many others. Kidd's design for Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park" novel was carried over into marketing for the film adaptation.

A fan of comic book media, particularly Batman, Kidd has written and designed book covers for several DC Comics publications, including "The Complete History of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman," "Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz," and "The Golden Age of DC Comics: 365 Days." He also designed "Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross."

Kidd's first novel, "The Cheese Monkeys," is an academic satire and coming-of-age tale that draws on Kidd's real life experiences. It was a national bestseller and a New York Times Notable Book. Among his other books are "The Learners" and an original graphic novel, "Batman: Death by Design," illustrated by Dave Taylor.

He also collaborated with writing staff of the animated series, "Batman: The Brave and the Bold," and did art direction and cover design for Paul Simon's album, "Surprise."

Kidd is a distinguished lecturer, who has written about graphic design and popular culture for the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Details, The New York Observer, McSweeney's, Vogue, New York Post, ID, and Print. He also dabbles in music as a composer, vocalist and percussionist.

About Bismarck State CollegeBismarck State College, an innovative community college in Bismarck, N.D., offers high quality education, workforce training, and enrichment programs reaching local and global communities. For more information, visit bismarckstate.edu.